Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence
by cpneb
Summary: Kim made the decision for Ron.  'She's gone, Monique,' Ron told Kim's best friend.         Josh heard the news, and now Ron has come to him for a favor, for Kim.                  Scarlet Innocence: the death of Kim Possible.
1. Chapter 1: the news

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Corporation. All other characters are the creation of the author and may not be used without his permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work…at this time.

------

Zaratan's challenge: **Something Different, Something New – Contest - **This is your chance to write something completely different.

And, now, for something completely different, Zaratan.

This is not a part of the (shameless plugs) _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ or the _**Partners, Again**_ stories of the JadeKimVerse, the _**Define, Hell**_ universe of stories, or a reading from the _**California King Bedtime Stories**_; it has began as another part of the new 'lovin' story, but a metamorphosis occurred, into the missing link that I had been searching for in the JadeKimVerse: the binder between the end of the _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ series and the beginning of the _**Partners, Again**_ series.

I've named it _**Birth, and Rebirth.**_

**A/N Forward: **

Kim made the decision for Ron.

Josh heard the news, and now Ron has come to him for a favor, for Kim.

-----

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

-----

Chapter 1: the news

-----

…**Dead, at 26!**

Click.

**Former Teen Hero dies, saving United Nations from missile attack!**

Click.

**Husband, rest of Team Possible injured but in serious condition!**

Click.

**Middleton and world mourns!**

Click.

Josh Mankey picked up his coffee mug and threw both it and the remote into the television, smashing the mug into shards but, miraculously, breaking neither the remote nor the screen as the television station continued to re-broadcast the final moments of the one woman he'd loved desperately who had not loved him in return.

'And, I still **do** love her, it seems, more than a little bit,' Josh thought bitterly.

"Josh?" The voice came from the bedroom, and padding of bare feet came into the living room.

"Josh," Liz came up behind him and put her arms around his neck, nibbling on his right ear.

"Darling, you've got to get some sleep: you've got a big day tomorrow."

"Liz," he looked up, "Kim's dead."

"Wha-whe-how?" Liz Mankey was a member of the Middleton High School 'cheer-sister-hood' along with Kim: she'd been the 'other redhead,' a fact that she'd held in high esteem.

"After all, if I'm the 'other woman' to Kim Possible, that's not such a bad deal, is it?" she'd told a news reporter when Kim had announced her engagement to Ron Stoppable, and she'd laughed at him as he looked perplexed.

"She saved the UN General Assembly from a missile launched into it by flying into the missile's path with her Team Possible jet; apparently, she pushed Ron off the plane after Jim, Tim, Joss, and Monique had already jumped to take out the remaining ground targets that had been identified earlier; she wasn't able to get off in time, and the plane exploded…" Josh couldn't continue, and he burst into tears, holding his wife as they both cried for their now-dead friend.

------

'It should have been **me**, dead, not her.

'KP, it should have been **me**,' Ron Stoppable thought once again as he walked out of the hospital into the hoard of reporters and camera crews.

"Mr. Stoppable!

"Mr. Stoppable!

"Mr. Stoppable!

"Is it true that Kim-" Ron held up his hand, and the venue became deathly silent.

"Gentlemen, I'll make one statement, and then I'm going to go home and explain to our children that Mommy won't be coming home, ever, so bear with me, please," and the cameras all caught Ron's flinch as he spoke, seemingly realizing for the first time that his lovely wife wouldn't be back. Monique put her hand on his back, and Joss took his other arm, supporting him.

"We made a choice," Ron began, and the cameras and recorders captured his emotions as he spoke.

"The missile was closing, she was the better pilot, I had the better dumb skills," Ron laughed, "the United Nations was more important than both of us together, and one of us had to be here, for our children, so we kissed, and she tripped me and pushed me out the door while I tried to do the same to her.

"She tripped me and, as I fell, yelled 'I love you, Ron.' I watched her turn and head for the cockpit, then saw the plane turn and watched her fly the plane directly into the missile, less than three miles from the UN General Assembly Building.

"She's gone, and I couldn't be any more proud of her," and he grabbed a tighter hold onto his cane. Monique and Joss helped him, and they, along with Jim and Tim, ran interference to the limousine that would take them to the airport and home.

Ron stopped at the limo door and turned, facing the cameras.

"I'm going home now to get ready to bury my wife's things, since we have no body," and several reporters gasped, and one even let out a solo sob. "Please," Ron asked, "give us a few moments of privacy, and you'll all get your future coverage through the Team Possible feeds. Contact Marcella Goodchild, our information officer, for any additional information that you need. You all have her contact information, and it's on the website; good day to you all." Ron stepped into the limo along with everyone else, the door closed, and it sped away, escorted by UN, GJ, and US Air Force vehicles.

"She's gone, Monique," Ron looked at his wife's best friend, barely holding herself together, and they fell into each other's arms, sobbing. Ron's cane had begun to glow faintly when the car door closed and, just as quickly, the glow dissipated after he spoke.

Tim and Jim looked at each other.

"Hicka-" Jim started, and Tim held up his hand as if to stop him.

"No more, Jim," Tim said through tears. "It's never gonna be the same anymore; not with Big Sis gone."

With that one statement, the Tweeb-speak that had grown with them died, just as their sister had: quickly, and painlessly.

Beep-beep-be-deep!

Joss lifted her PosComm and punched the button.

"Hello, Aggie," and Joss looked at her 22-year-old fiancée, the current Global Justice Director of Intelligence, but today he was a broken man.

"Sweet Tea, I hate to bother Ron, but Kim left something for him if anything ever happened to her: he needs to watch it, now," and Wade started the playback as Joss handed Ron the PosComm handheld.

"Hello, my dearest, darling husband." Kim's face appeared in the PosComm viewer as Ron made a strangled sound.

"If you're watching this, then I've gone and done something extremely stupid, and I'm not coming back," she smiled.

"I want you to know that I love you, even as you are suffering now. You probably tried to stop me," Ron grinned, "and I pushed you somewhere so you couldn't.

"You need to go on, Ron, for our children, not me," and Ron's tears that he'd successfully kept in check, came out with a vengeance.

"I love you, Ronald Dean Stoppable, and I'll be waiting for you to join me in about 90 years, ok?

"And, don't you dare and try to rush things and join me early, either!" she wagged a finger at him with a big smile.

"I have one favor to ask, though, my husband:

"Please, let him sing at my funeral; I know he loved me, and I didn't love him in return, but I don't think he ever completely got over me.

"Give him this time, his one last chance to say good-bye to me, Ronnie," she smiled.

"Please: for me," and gave Ron the Puppy-Dog-Pout.

"Gaaaaack!

"All right, Kimila, one last Pout," Ron replied with a smile.

"Know, Ronald Dean, that my love for your will forever burn; even after the stars all wax cold, I will still love you, with all of my heart.

"You can save this, but you don't have to: there's a copy if it in the safe at home, along with a more private message for you and one for each of our children.

"Now, go, my darling.

"I'll be watching over you, so don't go gorging on Nacos while I'm not there!" She blew him a kiss, and then had one more thought. "And, hug our children, with this," and she held her arms out wide and brought them in, in a mock hug, "from me, to them," and Kim had one tear on her right cheek.

The PosComm went black.

"She can't be serious," Monique said between sniffles.

"She was a Possible, Mon, remember? Anything's 'Possible,'" Ron smiled, and he dialed the number from his own memory on the PosComm to call...

-----

"All-Arts, Mankey and Associates, Liz Mankey speaking**"**

"Liz?" The voice sounded surprised.

"Yes; who's speaking?" the voice sounded familiar, she thought.

"The 'Mad Dog' is 'in the hoouuuse,'" the howl gave him away.

"RONALD!" she screamed, and Josh came running out of his office as Liz slammed the speaker 'On' button.

"You're on speaker, Ron, and Josh just came in.

"We're so sorry, Ron," Liz added. "How are the kids holding up?"

"Talked to them on the phone: they're still confused, they're only 3, so they don't understand much more than 'Mommy's not coming home again,'" Ron smiled through the phone.

"Ron, this is Josh. How are **you** holding up?"

"So far, I'm a mess, but I expect it to get much, much worse as we get closer and closer to the memorial service.

"That's actually why I'm calling, Josh: she wants you to sing her song at the memorial," and Josh grabbed the edge of the table with both hands.

"Josh?

"Hello, Josh?

"I'm still here, Ron: I'm just more than a little bit surprised, that's all.

"What do you want, Ron?"

"Josh, I know you, and you know me. We got over being mad at each other years ago, and we both know how you felt about Kim.

"This is her request; heck, Josh, this is my request: for my wife, sir: 'please, and thank you,'" and Josh laughed at the use of Kim's phrase.

"I need to talk to an expert: someone who's done this before, Ron, but my answer is a very respectful 'Yes.'

"You won't be disappointed."

"I never expected to, Josh. Thanks," and the line went dead.

"Liz, you know who I was talking about, don't you?" Josh asked, and Liz grinned as she pulled up the master phone list that Josh had accumulated over the years on her handheld, then handed him the unit.

The name was there; Josh grinned, leaned over and kissed her, and dialed the international number over the phone.

The line was especially clean, and it rang twice before answered.

"Rose Line, Josh," the English voice said with a chuckle. "I've been expecting your call," he added. "How are you holding up, Josh?"

"You know me too well, Sir John," Josh grinned.

"Do you have me on that infernal speakerphone you Yanks love?"

"Yes, I do, but it's so I could introduce you to my wife, Elizabeth," and Liz blushed.

"Elizabeth: a good and proper name, for a change," he chuckled. "My dear, your husband never told me he'd finally trapped a young lady: I'll have condolences roses sent immediately."

"Thanks load, 'L,'" Josh laughed, and he picked up one of the portable handsets on the unit and headed into his office, talking about his dilemma with the one man he knew would understand what he was about to do, mainly because he'd done it before.

-----

Joss screamed and sat straight up in bed.

Wade came running in, faster than people imagined he could have ever moved; those people had never considered how fast a person moves when a loved on is in danger.

"What is it, Joss?"

"I saw Kim!" and she started to cry.

Wade sat on the edge of the bed and held her as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"She was in the cockpit, and I could see the missile coming directly at her, and she grabbed at a lever underneath her, and then the world exploded!"

"Hush, hush," Wade tried to comfort her, but nothing he knew of could work: Joss had worshipped her cousin, and her death had hurt her terribly.

It was bad enough that Jim and Tim had dropped their Twin-speak language, but Anne Possible had gone into shock when she saw the newscast and fainted, falling and hitting her head. She'd awakened in the ER, convinced that what she'd seen was a dream. It took her husband, James, and her ER Doctor, Elizabeth Christie, to convince her that she, unfortunately, wasn't dreaming.

She had required an injection to sleep that night, and she had spent the night in the hospital with James sitting and holding her hand, while he silently wept for his 'Kimmie-cub.' She'd awakened the next morning, looked at the disheveled James, sitting and sleeping, and decided that she needed to come out of her funk: she could mourn later, because her family needed her. From that morning on, Anne was a rock.

"Joss, I know you're hurting, but Kim wouldn't want you to wallow," Wade started, but Joss looked up at him.

"My cousin's gone, Wade," she announced, and Wade stood up-

"I know, Joss, I know," he stroked her hair gently, holding her head next to his heart, as her sobs diminished in volume to a quiet gurgles.

She looked up at Wade with wet eyes.

"What about you, Wade?"

"What do you mean, Sweet Tea?"

"I haven't seen you cry for Kim," and Wade flinched visibly.

"Don't you care she's gone?"

"HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL, JOSS?" Wade screamed, and his volume frightened Joss.

"I LOVED KIM," he stopped, sucked back a rising sob, and continued, quieter, "I loved Kim, like she was my sister, Joss, and now…now, my 'big sister' is gone, another 'big sister' is gone, and I couldn't prevent it from happening, either," he stood, visibly shaking.

"Oh, Wade, I'm so sorry," she reached up and pulled him back down, and the 'Q' of Team Possible collapsed and sobbed for his first, but not his last, time.

"Forgive me, Wade?" and he nodded as he cried.

Joss held him for a bit, but finally she joined him in his tears.

-----

Ron opened the door into their daughter's bedroom. Donna Stoppable was three years old ("I'm almost this many," she would announce as she held up four fingers), but she was already reading second-grade books and critiquing the evening news; the last one had Ron rolling some nights.

"Hi, Donna," she looked up and ran to her daddy, jumping up into his arms and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Daddy, are you OK?" She asked as she took his face in her tiny hands.

"Why, Donna?"

"I was worried about you because Mommy's not coming back," she explained, and he stared at her.

"Who told you?"

"I heard talk, Daddy: besides, it was on Internet radio: I couldn't get the pictures, but I know, and went with Nana when she told my brother."

"We all three cried together, and I helped Nana put Don to bed: he was sleepy after he cried, but I wanted to stay up and make sure you were ok, Daddy.

"So, Daddy, are you OK?"

Ron nodded.

"That's good, Daddy: Mommy wouldn't want you to be sad," she continued, and then tiny tears appeared on her face.

"I miss Mommy already, Daddy," Donna whispered, and she wrapped her arms around Ron's neck as she cried.

"I know she stopped the bad men, Daddy, but it's not fair that they get to live and Mommy has to go and be with Father God.

"Daddy," she looked up at Ron, still with tears on her tiny face, "do you think Father God looks like Granddaddy James?" she asked, and Ron smiled.

"For Mommy, I'm sure he does, Donna," and she smiled.

"Good; that way Mommy won't be scared when she meets Him."

She quietly cried for a few minutes, and then she looked up at Ron:

"Daddy, when can we see Mommy?"

Ron's heart broke when he explained that there was no more 'Mommy' to see.

"That's just not right, Daddy: the bad people's kids get to see them.

"Why can't we see Mommy? She was a good guy."

'How do you tell an almost-four-year-old that her mother is part of the wind, now?' Ron thought as he cried with his daughter as they held each other.

-----

Josh sat in his home studio, old-style tape machines running and playing soft guitar riffs in the background.

Josh had talked to the master of tribute songs, and he'd decided to start with a song he'd begun for Kim and played for her on a date. He'd never finished it, but he'd kept the pencil-scribbled paper with the lyrics and music on them.

He had named the song "_**Scarlet Innocence**_," because he'd always seen Kim as the innocent one in the midst of all the evil in the world. He had his first two lyrics: what he'd written for her, originally, but he needed more.

He thought of their last meeting at MoonNickel's, when she'd broken up with him and told him that she wasn't sure what she wanted, but that she was certain that it wasn't Josh Mankey.

"Kim," he had said to her as his insides ripped, "you know who you want, but you just won't admit it to yourself."

"Oh, really, Mr. Mankey?" She'd crossed her arms over her chest and made 'that' face. "And who would that be, hmmm?"

"It's Ron, of course," and she shot her coffee across the table onto his new silk shirt.

"RON?" she shouted, and the manager had shushed her. She'd given him a look, and he went back to making coffee drinks.

"Yes, Ron," Josh wiped at the coffee with napkins from his tray.

"You've been with Ron more than you were with me while we were dating."

"We were on missions, Josh!"

"You've slept with Ron, and you certainly haven't slept with me, Kim," he smirked.

"It was in the back of a CargoMaster, Josh, and we were sitting upright with 20 Marines around us!"

"Kim, he went to the Amazon for you on our first date to keep you from disappearing: I could never compete with that," and Kim had a tear escape.

"It's all right, Kim: I understand if you don't want to date me anymore; just be true to yourself, that's all I ask," and he leaned across the table and kissed her cheek.

"I love you, Kimberly Ann Possible; I'll always love you, you know that. Now, I know just where I rank, that's all," and he stood and held out his hand, and she took his hand and rose to her feet.

"Just one final kiss, Kim?" He asked, and she nodded and came around the table.

They kissed goodbye, and her lips remained closed, no matter how many times Josh's tongue knocked. They separated, and then Josh turned and left without saying another word.

He heard later from the manager that she had stood there, touching her mouth for about a minute, then sat down in a chair and cried for about two or three minutes, then stood and ran out of the store.

-----

He remembered dates before that, when she'd just come back from missions so exhausted that she'd fallen asleep on him, in his lap, in his car on the way to restaurants or movies for their dates.. He started carrying a pillow in his car for her, wanting her head to be comfortable when she fell asleep from exhaustion. He remembered her crying in her sleep, and he stroked her hair; that seemed to make her feel better as she slept.

She was always embarrassed when she would wake up, but he always told her that it was, using her own words, 'No Big.' He would kiss her nose as he let her out in front of her house, then he would do it again as he said goodbye at the door.

-----

He thought about the video he'd watched of her jet, disappearing in the explosion and the following nuclear blast.

-----

He scribbled quickly, scratched out several lines, then wrote again, and scratched out some of the lines again, then wrote more.

-----

This cycle continued throughout the night. Liz had walked in at 2:35 AM to watch him write and brought him a mug of fresh coffee. He smiled up at her when she placed the coffee on the desk in front of him, and she bent down and kissed him.

"Coming to bed, dear?" she asked.

"In a little bit, Liz, a little bit," he answered, and put his head down to the old-style composing tools of pencil and paper, then would turn to the keyboard and play a melody line and sing along, then scratch more words and notes onto and off of the page.

-----

The capsule was buried in the trees, deep in the woods and south of the park, away from the nearest roads by miles. It was covered with the limbs from the trees that had fallen when it crashed through when it hurtled from the sky. The major thunderstorms that had pounded the area, setting of flash floods in scattered areas, had made so much noise that no one had heard the capsule hurtling through the skies and crashing through the trees to and into the ground to end up, cradled, in a hole, supported by piles of timbers, branches, and leaves.

-----

"Liz, it's done," Josh looked up, his face wet with sweat and tears.

She walked in and sat, and he punched the keyboard player. It started to playback what he'd played into it as he picked up his guitar, and then he began to sing.

-----

"Well?" as he strummed the last chord.

"You really loved her, didn't you?" Liz asked, and he nodded.

"We all did, Josh, and this is wonderful. Ron will love it, and I know her parents will, too," she reached over and put his guitar on the table, then stood and moved over into his lap, staring into his face.

"Kim will love it, too, as much as I love you, Josh," and she kissed her husband, knowing that she would never have all of his heart:

A part of it still belonged to another redhead, and it didn't bother her in the least.

-----

The capsule was still buried in the fallen trees in the park, but now the top made a noise, and a tiny gap appeared in the place where an outline of a hatch appeared.

-----

**Author's afterward:**

-----

I'm saving all my comments for the last chapter, as well as my thanks and shout-outs, except for this one:

Thanks, Zaratan, for this contest: it forced the brain cells to work, and the problem solved itself.

-----

Thanks again for reading, and please review.

-----


	2. Chapter 2: the song

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Corporation. All other characters are the creation of the author and may not be used without his permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work…at this time.

------

Zaratan's challenge: **Something Different, Something New – Contest - **This is your chance to write something completely different.

And, now, for something completely different, Zaratan.

This is not a part of the (shameless plug) _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ or the _**Partners, Again**_ stories of the JadeKimVerse, the _**Define, Hell**_ universe of stories, or a reading from the _**California King Bedtime Stories**_; it has began as another part of the new 'lovin' story, but a metamorphosis occurred: into the missing link that I had been searching for in the JadeKimVerse: the filler between the end of the _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ series and the beginning of the _**Partners, Again**_ series.

I've named it _**Birth, and Rebirth.**_

**A/N Forward: **

Kim made the decision for Ron.

Josh heard the news, and now Ron has come to him for a favor, for Kim.

-----

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

-----

Chapter 2: the song

-----

Ron's biggest problem had nothing to do with Kim's parents, his parents, their kids, or the hoards that had begun to gather outside of his home. There was a crowd of over 50 people there when he had first arrived, and the noises that they were making all stopped as soon as they saw Ron's car. They all held up candles, glowing in the evening sky, and bowed their heads as he drove passed.

No, his problem was deciding what to place in her empty coffin.

He's always thought that he would die before her, likely from too many Nacos and cheese, but he'd never imagined this, not even in his nightmares.

He sat on their bed, hugging Pandaroo.

Pandaroo was staying: it was one of the few remaining things that still smelled like Kim…it was too much, and he began to cry once again.

He thought he was out of tears by now, three days after her death.

He was wrong.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Donna was standing in the doorway, holding her brother's hand.

"Nothing, Mon: I just miss Mommy, that's all," he managed to say without falling apart. "Pandaroo smells like her," he smiled.

"We miss her too, Daddy: can we smell Pandaroo, too?" Donna asked, and he nodded. She pulled her brother along to the bedside, and Ron held Pandaroo out for Donna and Don to touch.

His son sniffed.

"Mommy!" Don started to bawl, and he was quickly joined by his Donna.

Ron put Pandaroo on Kim's pillow, scooped his children up and held them, and he joined them in the tears-sharing.

-----

Ron finished straightening his son's tie and brushed his jacket.

"You look good, son.

"Donna?" and his daughter walked in, led by Anne Possible, Donna a miniature vision of her mother in her black dress with the emerald pin on her right breast.

"Ron, are you ready for this?" Anne looked at him. He looked strong on the outside, but she knew:

She had watched him from the dining room last night, unbeknownst to him: standing, holding a Bueno Nacho bag, shedding quiet tears, and then coming to a conclusion and slamming the unopened bag into the trash. "No More NACOS!" he had shouted. "Not without My Kim," he said a bit softer, and he sank to his knees in the kitchen floor and continued his quiet tears, hugging himself and rocking back and forth.

Ron wanted to yell:

"Why, Yahweh? Whyyyyyyy?" he wanted to scream, looking skyward.

"She's done everything for You, and in Your name.

"Did you need another angel? Well, we needed her here! Her children need her, and I need her.

"It's not fair!"

"How dare You do this to us!"

Instead, he bowed his head, reverently, and begged:

"Take me, Yahweh, I pray, but please, bring Kimberly back, please."

"Please: I can't live without her," he fell flat on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

She left: she knew that Ron needed to work through this, just as she did:

"Why, Father God, why **my** daughter?" she asked as she started her car, and she had a flash:

She saw her daughter, alive, crawling over crushed timbers.

It only lasted a moment, and then it was gone.

It was so real…but, she knew it was only her fantasy, and she backed out of the driveway.

-----

The figure had managed to exit the capsule and fall onto the bed of leaves and timbers below. It managed to fall off of the bed and into the hole that the capsule had dug into the forest floor, as it crashed to earth, and the figure looked up, barely seeing the sun through the tree canopies.

"I'm going north: something just feels right about north," the figure thought, and it used the pole it had broken from a branch to make a walking stick to stand and support itself.

The figure threw the walking stick to the floor above and managed to crawl out of the hole. Grabbing the stick, the figure stood, saw a large log only a few feet away, and managed to make it to the log without passing out and sit, heavily.

The figure removed the helmet, and she shook her singed auburn trusses from their confines; they fell down around her face and to her shoulders, and her emerald eyes shone, now seeing unfiltered light for the first time.

"I'm coming home, Ron, just as soon as I figure out where the heck I am," she said out loud, and she was surprised at the sound of her own voice: weak and hoarse, but at least she still had a voice

She looked back at the capsule that had carried her here. The stylized _**TP**_ and _**BlazeIT!**_ logos were side-by-side on the capsule outer wall, smudged, yet standing tall.

'Wade, once again: you rock, my partner, my friend,' and she took her first pained step north.

-----

Marcella, with Wade's and Joss' help, had managed to coordinate the massive media requests for coverage of the memorial service. Team Possible would provide the feeds to all the networks, and the networks had immediately agreed.

Wade had the cameras all on remote, and he could override, if needed, both picture and sound.

Kim's church wouldn't hold the crowd, so they had gone to the MHS Sports Stadium: Ron had agreed, saying that it was only fitting.

When Anne, James, Jim, Tim, Ron, Donna, and Don all walked out of the door of their home, the crowd noise vanished, and the crowd parted at street-side to leave a space.

A solitary muffled drum approached, along with the muted clip-clop of horses' hooves.

The family walked to the edge of the driveway and looked down the street.

Ron had first balked at this idea, but the calls from the President of the United States, the Canadian Premier, and the Queen herself convinced him to do it.

A caisson carrying the casket was pulled by two black horses led by a person from Global Justice and a person from the United States Army. The single horse in front of them, with a pair of mission boots, turned backwards in the stirrups, was led by a female Navy Admiral, her red hair tied down and her face held taut, holding back her tears.

Don saw the caisson coming, and he shot his right hand up in a salute, just like he'd seen on television and the Internet.

The cameras all caught the picture, and it was on the evening news and in the morning papers, let alone it flew across the internet at light-speed. Donald James Stoppable, like his sister Donna Monica Stoppable, were about to become famous at almost-age four.

James Possible saw Don's salute, and he flashed back to the stories that he'd heard from Slim, his brother, about JFK's funeral, and JohnJohn's salute.

'At least Don's not wearing short pants,' James grinned inside, and he realized that the crowd had followed Don's lead: they were all saluting the casket.

'For you, Kimmie-cub,' James thought as he brought up his arm in a salute.

The crowd held the salutes until long after the casket passed, the procession heading for the football stadium.

-----

The family arrived at the stadium. They could see that the stands were packed, and security was amazing. Secret Service and Global Justice agents along with military personnel ringed the stadium.

"Allow me, Ron," the Admiral opened his door.

"Claudia Rose?" she smiled. "Hello," as Ron stepped out and received a hug from her. "Thank you for coming."

"I had to come, Ron: after what you two have done for me and the Armed Forces, not to mention Lindsey," Claudia Rose grinned, "not being here would be a crime.

"The President sends his condolences and regrets that he could not come, but he's transmitted a statement to the Team Possible website, and Wade told me he's received it." She hugged Ron again, and then knelt down in front of Don and Donna, who had gotten out of the car, following their father.

"Don, Donna: I'm Claudia Rose: I'm a friend of your Uncle Wade's, and I've worked with your mother."

"You knew Mommy?" Donna asked, fighting her tears, and Claudia Rose nodded.

"Yes, Donna, I did; she is a wonderful woman, and as long as you hold her here," she pointed to her heart, "she'll never be gone from you. OK?"

"OK," Don replied, pointing to his heart. "Mommy's right here," he added, and Ron smiled.

-----

They had set up seats at the 40 yard line on the field for the family and dignitaries behind them, with a stage at the 10 yard line.

As Ron, the Stoppable and Possible families all walked into the stadium, the venue went completely silent, then a single pair of hands came together.

Clap

Two pair.

Clap Clap

Four pair.

Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap

The entire audience, both on the field and in the stands, rose as one and was now applauding.

The applause began to overwhelm Don and Donna, and they held their hands over their ears.

The crowd went totally silent, and the cameras and microphones all went off, as the family approached the casket.

-----

A road!

Kim struggled up the slight incline and fell back to the ground as she reached the top.

'Great, just great: get this far, find a road, and die on the side of the road like an armadillo.

'**NO**!' she mentally shouted. 'I will **not** become road-kill,' and she pulled herself up to the edge of the dirt and road.

She flopped back to the ground.

She heard a sound in the distance, coming – towards her?

"Please, see me," she whispered, and her head fell back to the road.

-----

"…the properties in this area are going quickly, and this 2300-acre plot is one of the largest blocks remaining intact." The realtor drove down the road with the couple in the back seat.

"What's that, dear?" the wife pointed, and Kevin slammed his car to a stop and threw his door open.

He ran out and over to the lady lying by the side of the road, the suit she was wearing looked like some type of flight suit, but it was ripped and torn in several places on her legs, arms, and torso. He reached down to touch her head, and felt warmth:

She was alive!

She raised her head and looked at the man who had touched her head.

Her hair hurt.

"Help," she managed to croak before her head fell back down and she lapsed into unconsciousness.

"Quick, James, help me get her in the car.

"Jessica, you ride in the back seat and hold her head in your lap: I'm heading to Middletown: my brother's a doctor at Orange Regional," Kevin yelled as he gunned his Gourd Land Cruiser and headed down 172.

"Why Middletown?" James asked.

"Orange Regional has a Trauma Center: that's where my brother works. He and the team there will know what to do," Kevin explained, reaching for his headset to call his brother to get a sheriff's escort as well as alert them that he was coming in 'hot.'

-----

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming," Ron stood at the podium.

He was up after the Admiral and several Global Justice and military personnel spoke.

"Kim was my soul mate, no matter what Animology said," and the audience laughed.

"Since Pre-K, it's been KP and me.

"The cactus means a lot to us," and the audience laughed, again: they all knew the story of how they first fell in love.

"I went to Kim's dad when I returned without her," Ron smiled as he looked down at Kim's father and smiled.

"'Mr. Dr. P: I'm sorry: I let you down. I told you I'd always look after Kim, or you could send me up on a black hole probe,'" he stared at James, and James smiled.

"He told me: 'You're safe, Ronald: take care of my grandbabies, and you can stay planet-bound,' and Ron wiped his face as the audience chuckled. "Thank you, James," he nodded at him, and James nodded back.

"Wade: we kept her safe:" Ron stared at Wade as Wade was attempting to hold back his emotions, his tears.

"This was **not** your fault, so don't go blaming yourself, or I'm coming after you and taking you out, myself," Ron grinned, the audience applauded, and Wade nodded through his tears, holding on for dear life to Joss: today, his weeping rock.

Ron stood straight, and stared directly into the camera in front of him and announced:

"Team Possible **will **go on," and the audience's sudden and massive applause shocked Ron.

"We'll go on…for Kim, my wife, whom I will love until the stars all grow cold and dead," he swayed and grabbed his cane even harder, pressing it into the stage to steady himself. "Kim thanks you for everything you've done, and for coming here today," and sobs could be heard scattered throughout the audience, "Don and Donna thank you for your kindness, and I thank you all for coming," and he left to dead silence, the silence from the audience out of respect to Kim and him.

He walked past her casket, leaned over and kissed it, then went back to his seat.

"You did good, Daddy," Donna grinned as she hugged him.

"I feel a little better, Daddy," Don added as he squeezed his Daddy's hand.

The stage grew people: a young lady stepped to the huge conga drum and bongo collection, a gentleman stepped forward to the keyboard, and both were wearing microphone headsets. Josh Mankey stepped forward with his guitar.

"I don't want to be here," Josh began, "because being here means that someone special to me is no longer with us," he smiled at Ron.

"My name is Josh Mankey, and with me today are Melody Davidson on drums and Mark Cotterman on keyboard," they both nodded, respectfully.

"Ron, very graciously, asked me to sing a song for Kim. He said that Kim had asked for it, and who could **ever** turn her down, especially with that 'Puppy-Dog Pout?" he laughed, and many in the audience grinned knowingly.

"I talked to 'L,'" and the audience knew who he was talking about and the murmurs began, "because he had more experience at songs like this than anyone I knew.

"I even asked him to come and sing for her, but he declined: he said that he was not worthy to sing for Kim Possible," and Josh wiped a tear from his face, "like **I** am," he whispered sarcastically as the murmurs subsided.

He stood silently for a moment, and he continued to speak.

"Part of this is from a song that I wrote for Kim, back in the day when we were dating, before she got wise, dumped me, and went to Ron," the audience chuckled, and Josh strummed a few chords.

"I'll miss you, Kim, and the world will miss you, too: our lives are all diminished, without you here," he looked down at Ron, and Ron nodded.

"Thank you, Ron, for this chance to say goodbye to a friend," 'and a woman beyond compare,' he thought as he smiled at his wife. 'I love you, Liz,' he mouthed, and she smiled through her tears.

He strummed one more chord.

"This is called '_**Scarlet Innocence**_;' that's how I'd always seen Kim," and the keyboard and bongos began a very relaxed beat, a mellow sound, and the music led Josh into his song to Kim, for Kim:

**-----**

**SCARLET INNOCENCE**

(Josh) Scarlet innocence: a tainted light behind her eyes, deep in perfect eyes.

Childlike in a sense, lost beneath the city night, beneath the city night.

Painted up, she'll spend her time, dreaming in the haze to get away, to leave it far behind.

She rests her head upon her pillow, and then she cries,

(Melody and Mark,, almost a stage-whisper) _how she cries_

(Josh) Her tears fall down upon her pillow when she cries,

(Melody and Mark) _how she cries_

--

(Josh) Scarlet innocence: a wise, strong light behind her eyes, deep in emerald eyes.

Childlike, in a sense, never lost beneath the nights, beneath the world's bright lights.

Suited up, she's spends her time, fighting in the haze to keep us safe, to keep evil a-way.

She'd rest her head upon her pillow, and then she'd cry

(Melody and Mark) _while she slept_

(Josh) Her tears would fall upon her pillow, while she'd cry

(Melody and Mark) _while she slept_

--

(Josh) We know what she meant, in the way she left us all, left us all behind.

And, we know where she went, when she made her last goodbyes, soaring through the skies;

Staring straight to Heaven's gate, she'd only see the brightness of the day…

Before she went away.

She'll rest her head upon her pillow, and now she'll cry,

(Melody and Mark) _now she'll cry._

(Josh) Her tears fall down upon her pillow, and now she'll cry,

(Melody and Mark) _when she cries._

(Josh) She'll rest her head upon her pillow, and now she'll cry,

(Melody and Mark) _how she'll cry._

(Josh) Her tears fell down upon the buildings, when she died.

-----

The audience was silent for several moments.

A solitary clap came from near the front of the stage, and Josh looked in astonishment at the source:

Anne Possible was standing, and applauding, tears streaming down her face.

'Bless you, Josh," she mouthed to him.

Ron stood as Anne began to applaud and applauded, and Donna and Don followed him, along with James, Jim, and Tim.

The audience roared its approval.

Across the Atlantic, L picked up his cell phone after watching the event and dialed Josh's cell.

"This is L. I couldn't 'ave done it any better. Wonderful sendoff for our 'eroine, sir," and he clicked the line off.

-----


	3. Chapter 3: the suit

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Corporation. All other characters are the creation of the author and may not be used without his permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work…at this time.

------

Zaratan's challenge: **Something Different, Something New – Contest - **This is your chance to write something completely different.

And, now, for something completely different, Zaratan.

This is not a part of the (shameless plug) _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ or the _**Partners, Again**_ stories of the JadeKimVerse, the _**Define, Hell**_ universe of stories, or a reading from the _**California King Bedtime Stories**_; it has began as another part of the new 'lovin' story, but a metamorphosis occurred: into the missing link that I had been searching for in the JadeKimVerse: the filler between the end of the _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ series and the beginning of the _**Partners, Again**_ series.

I've named it _**Birth, and Rebirth.**_

**A/N Forward: **

Kim made the decision for Ron.

Josh heard the news, and now Ron has come to him for a favor, for Kim.

-----

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

-----

Chapter 3: the suit

-----

"Get that suit off of her, stat!"

"Doctor, there's a problem," the nurse cut, and she stared, astonished, at the result.

"What's wrong, Janet?"

"Look, Doctor," and she cut the material. The cut appeared where the scissors made their mark, but the cut mended within a few seconds of it being made.

"Is she human?" Janet asked.

"Well, then, get it off of her 'old school:' pull it off. See of there's Velcro or a zipper somewhere on this outfit, or if it comes apart," Doctor Brad Garrison felt, and he found a connection unlike anything he'd ever seen on clothes, even in his military experience with pressure suits.

His fingers created a tiny gap, and he smiled. "There! Feel that, Janet," she put her fingers in the same spot. "Feel that?" he asked again as he pried his fingers into the gap he'd created, and the suit began to separate at the waist into a top and bottom.

"Roll her," and Janet rolled her as Brad continued to separate the outfit into two pieces. "Now, back down," and Janet lowered her back down as Brad successfully created two from one.

"Pull the boots off, Janet, then pull the suit bottom." Janet was able to quickly comply after she found the same type of connection that held the boots to the bottom of the pants, removed the boots and pulled the bottom of the suit off the patient.

She (Janet was happy that it was at least a 'she' and not something from another world: she'd had enough _**Twilight Zone**_ and **_Outer Limits_** to last her for months, if not years, after watching those three-day marathons last week), at least, wore panties, and luckily, they had remained in place.

Janet looked up: Brad had been able to remove the top, revealing a t-shirt that he was able to cut, and that revealed a bra.

"Well, either she's human, or there's really cute life on other worlds," Brad remarked, earning a glare from Janet.

"Bag this suit and tag it, Janet: I'm calling an old friend of my father's who might know just what the heck this is," and he ran through his mind the possible locations of his father's friend and came up with two likely locations.

"Pulse is slow but steady, Doctor. Breathing is fair, not strong, but there seems to be a catch."

"Let's put her on 100 per cent oxygen for a couple of hours and monitor it, Janet. In the meantime, we have one broken leg, what looks like two broken ankles and one sprained wrist. There's no apparent back or neck damage, and there's no visible skull damage. I didn't what to exacerbate the breaks or sprains, but that couldn't be helped: we had to get her out of the suit.

"Get some help, and a gown on her, then set her up for a head CT, an X-ray, and an MRI to check for internal injuries, stat. Then, call the 'bone doc' when everything's back: looks like she's gonna be busy tonight."

"Yes, Doctor." Janet Gilliland smiled as Doctor Garrison walked away with the bagged suit, heading for his office down the hall.

-----

Doctor Adams was almost giddy.

For him, at least, it was tempered giddiness as he packed the penultimate box of his books from his Global Justice office.

Betty had 'drafted' Charles Percival Nebulon Adams (CP, as he was more infamously known around the buildings on the campus, usually prefaced and/or followed by several expletives) two more times in the previous six years, and he had contemplated destroying her office the second time when she'd called him in, after he'd packed his office, and gave him the news: unpack.

This time, though, his giddiness was tempered with sadness: one of his favorite people was gone.

Kimberly Ann Possible had died, and a part of him had died with her.

There was no logical reason for his feelings: it certainly wasn't a sexual attraction: he saw her as an attractive young woman, more of a daughter than a lover, and it certainly wasn't a regular friendship: they'd crossed swords (figuratively, as well as literally) more than once: she slaughtered him, repeatedly, on foil, and he laughed remembered her removing her mask and grinning, each time she'd defeated him.

He had watched her memorial service from his office, toasting her with several glasses of his own special brew of Village Sweet Tea with mint and lemon: this way, at least, he could cry in private.

No, perhaps it was her professionalism, tempered with her innate ability to thumb her nose at authority, specifically Global Justice and Dr. Elizabeth Director-Possible, with almost as much passion as he had.

'She could be my daughter, temperament-wise,' he grinned. He added 'Gray's Anatomy' to the box.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep….went his desk phone, and;

"Sweet Jesu, not again, Betty!" he shouted as he punched the speaker.

"CP here," he answered with his Southern drawl. He was potentially very, very angry.

"Dr. Adams?" the voice was male.

'Betty gets to live one day longer, and I don't have to go after her at the Bunker, either,' he chuckled to himself.

"CP Speaking. Who is this?"

"Dr, this is Dr. Brad Garrison, in the Orange Regional Trauma Center on Middletown, New York. My father is David Clark Garrison," the voice added, and CP smiled. He remembered Clark: a good friend from their time together at Dallas Parkland.

"What in tarnation is Clark up to, these days?"

"He's chasing brook trout now, full time, sir," Brad answered.

"Well, good for him!"

"Dr. Adams, I wouldn't bother you unless I had something that seemed like it had a Global Justice connection, but I think this does.

"I'm holding what looks like a pilot's G-suit, but it can't be cut with scissors; it has some sort of self-healing capability," and CP's eyes grew wider.

"Really, now?" he drawled, this time from curiosity.

"And, just how did you come into possession of this marvelous, magical material?"

"Janet, my nurse, and I removed it from a female, mid-to-late 20s, who looks like she's been through hell," and, now, CP was now fully awake.

"Can you describe here to me, Brad?"

"Yes sir: approximately 56 inches tall, no more than 118 pounds, auburn-red hair-" CP stopped him as he smiled broadly.

"Do you have a DNA sampler with a remote transmission capability, son?"

"Yes, sir," Brad wondered who this person was.

"Great: get a DNA sample from her, take her fingerprints, and wire the results, her condition, everything, to me at this address.

"You have a pencil, son?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good: the address is GJmaddocGlobalJustice.GJ-UN. Send everything immediately.

"Yes, sir.

"Sir, may I ask: what are you thinking?"

"If I'm correct, Brad, you're about to become very, very, famous, son.

"Now, get to work! Time's a-wastin'!"

"Yes, sir!" and the line went dead.

'Great googly-moogly, Kimberly: you just may have cheated death, one more time," CP thought and smiled as he thought of the lovely parting gift he was going to give Betty…

Then, he realized that she would want him to stay on and fly to Middletown to supervise her transfer as well as her recovery.

He went to the refrigerator and pulled out his last container of tea, punched some more ice into a tall, big glass, and poured the last of his tea into it, adding a wedge of lime from the fridge and plucking a mint leaf from his plant and adding it to the glass.

"I don't know how you did it, Betty, but you just drafted me again," he said as he tipped the glass up to his mouth, draining the entire 36 ounces in a mere matter of seconds.

He sighed, and started to unpack his medical equipment from the box he'd just closed before the book box.

-----

"She needs surgery to stop that internal bleeding, now!" Dr. Cranston, internal medicine, nodded in agreement with the surgeon's recommendations.

"All right, take her up, but no more attempting 'surprise' heart transplants, Alyssa, alright?" Brad smiled.

"One lousy 'almost-slip:' nothing happened, no harm done, and I'm going to hear about it for years, aren't I?" Dr. Alyssa Medrano, the surgeon, groaned, but smiled at Brad-

"Alyssa, don't do that…OK, I'm sorry I brought it up, just turn off the pout, all right?" Brad laughed, and Alyssa just continued to smiled.

"Shall I check the tire pressure?" Alyssa asked.

"No."

"change her oil?"

"NO!"

"free plastics job? I can work on the top while I'm there," she prodded.

"_**NO, Alyssa**_!"

"Oh, all right," she pouted, and Brad covered his eyes. "You're just no fun, anymore, Brad," and Janet laughed at him as Brad uncovered his eyes, sputtering. Alyssa just smiled with her continued pouted. "Take her to OR-2: I'll be up in five after I scrub. You've called the gas-man?"

"Conner is up there, waiting, Alyssa," Brad replied.

"Good. Any word on identification on our 'Jamie Doe,' Brad," Alyssa asked as she headed for the door.

"Nothing yet."

-----

"Ron, are you sure you're all right?" Monique asked him as he picked at his dinner.

"I'm fine, Mon, really," he replied as he moved his peas around his asparagus, forming a trail to the asparagus head.

"You don't have to stay here, Mon."

"Of course I don't have to, silly: I want to.

"Felix had to leave town on business after the service, and the house is clean, and you need someone with you and the kids for a bit, so I'm here," she smiled at her suffering friend.

She had an evil thought as his peas lost their race to the asparagus tips.

"Ron, when did you sneak a Naco?" she grinned, and Ron shook his head.

"No more Nacos, Mon," he whispered and looked up, the saddest Puppy-Dog-Pout Monique had ever seen occupying Ron's face, "not without my KP," and Monique grabbed him as he tried to stand and fell forward, sobbing once again.

-----

"Betty?" CP knocked on her door, and she looked up with a smirk that disappeared immediately when she saw his smile.

"Come in, CP."

'He's smiling: that's _**not **_a good sign,' she thought.

"Merry Christmas, Betty," he tossed her a folder and placed his travel bag on the floor before he sat in her guest chair and crossed his legs.

"Going somewhere, CP?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Why, yes, I am: Middletown, New York, to be precise, hopefully before the media gets wind of it," he smiled, and he motioned for her to open the folder.

Betty flipped the folder open, stared in shock, turned to the second page, smiled, and her smile got bigger the more pages she turned.

"CP, if I weren't married, I'd marry you," she stood and walked around him, pulled him up and kissed him on the cheek.

"You know better than that, Betty: we'd have killed each other before the week was out, and that would have been while we were still on the honeymoon," CP replied straight-faced, and she giggled.

'She's done that a lot more ever since she got married and the twins were born,' he thought.

"Have you called Ron?"

"No: I thought you could do that as we drove over there to give him a bit of warning before we sprung it on him. Lindsey and Will have a jet ready and a flight plan filed, so they're ready to go when we all are.

"What about James and Anne, Betty?"

"Oh, brackets! They'll want to come, too," Betty grinned, "for some silly, unknown reason."

"Dr. Director?" the screen snapped on, and Doctor Wade Load appeared.

"I'm packed and ready: swing by and pick Joss and I up, please and thank you. I've requested a separate jet for transport of the cockpit unit when we find it," his smile was huge.

"Wade, how did you- Oh, never mind: I can't even blame you anymore: you are, after all, my Director of Intelligence."

"You got that right, MTB," Wade grinned, and CP laughed as Betty sputtered.

"And, CP?" Wade turned and stared at CP.

"Yes, Wade?"

"You're a very, very bad man," Wade wagged his finger, and CP couldn't help but laugh, "for not telling me what you'd found," Wade's grin got even bigger. "Your punishment-" and CP cut him off.

"I know, Dr. Load: I've already unpacked my equipment," CP groaned and grinned at the same time, and he and Wade laughed together as Betty looked at both of them, perplexed.

"Well, what's holding you here, Betty?

"Let's go get her."

She beat him to the door, only because he reached to pick up his travel bag only to find that she had kicked it to the other side of the room as she headed out the door.

-----


	4. Chapter 4: the tube

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Corporation. All other characters are the creation of the author and may not be used without his permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work…at this time.

------

Zaratan's challenge: **Something Different, Something New – Contest - **This is your chance to write something completely different.

And, now, for something completely different, Zaratan.

This is not a part of the (shameless plug) _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ or the _**Partners, Again**_ stories of the JadeKimVerse, the _**Define, Hell**_ universe of stories, or a reading from the _**California King Bedtime Stories**_; it has began as another part of the new 'lovin' story, but a metamorphosis occurred: into the missing link that I had been searching for in the JadeKimVerse: the filler between the end of the _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ series and the beginning of the _**Partners, Again**_ series.

I've named it _**Birth, and Rebirth.**_

**A/N Forward: **

Kim made the decision for Ron.

Josh heard the news, and now Ron has come to him for a favor, for Kim.

-----

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

-----

Chapter 4: the tube

-----

Ron opened his front door to four smiling faces: Betty Director, Wade Load, Dr. Adams, and Lindsey Du.

He yawned and stretched, staring at them all.

"What's the emergency sitch that brought all of you out here at 3:35 in the morning that has nothing to do with a run on the Naco market?"

"Let's go get your wife, Ron," Betty smiled, and Ron grabbed the door frame and jammed his now glowing cane into the floor.

"You found…you've found Kim's body?" he whispered.

"No, Ron," Wade corrected him.

"We found Kim, Ron." Wade smiled.

"We found your wife," Lindsey grinned.

"She's alive," Betty smiled: she added the two magic words that took Ron's legs from him, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

"I told you to wait until someone could catch him," CP groused at Betty as he went to his newest patient as Monique, Don, and Donna all came down the stairs to see Ron, unconscious, on the floor.

"RON!" Monique levitated the remaining stairs, and Wade intercepted her before she could slam into CP.

"She's alive, Monique," Wade stared into her eyes, and her tear dam burst as the two hugged and cried together.

Don and Donna ran to Monique and Wade, confused, and Wade bent down.

"What's wrong with Daddy, Uncle Wade?" Don asked, and Wade smiled.

"Kids, go change: we're going to go and get your mommy: she's alive," and the shock froze them in place.

-----

Dr. Brad Garrison picked up his vibrating cell.

"Hello?"

"Brad? CP here."

"Dr. Adams: good morning, sir."

"Brad, you need to activate your hospital's emergency lockdown and/or quarantine plan."

"WHAT? Why?" he sat straight in his chair.

"Your 'Jamie Doe?'"

"Yes?"

"You're about to be bombarded with more news satellite trucks and paparazzi than you'll know what to do with, son," CP chuckled.

"Who is she, Kim Possible?" Brad asked, sarcastically, and CP's silence caused Brad's phone to fall to the floor.

Brad reached for the hospital's emergency procedures manual for both lockdowns and quarantines, found the number, and activated both programs, just to be safe. He figured he'd get fired, but he didn't care.

Then, he remembered his cell phone on the floor.

"CP?" he asked when he picked up the phone.

"I'm still here, son. I figured you had a bit of shock and a call to make."

"Yes, sir, I did. Thank you, Dr. Adams."

"For what you've done, Brad, it's CP. We'll be there by 9:15 AM your time."

Click.

'Who's we?' he thought.

"JANET!" he yelled, and Janet came, her shoulder-length wavy blonde hair flowing behind her as she ran, running to his office door to see a beaming Brad Garrison as he walked to the door.

"What is it, Brad?"

"Christmas, Janet," he grinned as he hugged a shocked Janet Gilliland.

She wasn't upset in the least at the hug: surprised, but not upset.

-----

Josh sat in the darkened living room, curtains drawn, watching the replay of the memorial service for the 20th time.

Thirty-six hours had passed since he'd sung, and his phone hadn't stopped ringing, and his email was packed with offers.

None of it mattered.

'Kim's gone, and Liz is all I have left.

'I'm worth more to her now if I'm gone, and the song will make millions, so she'll be set, for life.

'Will she miss me?

'I doubt it: I'm nobody,' and he planned to do it, after she left for the office. He would make a big breakfast, one for her and a separate dish for him: they'd eat together, and he'd be delayed leaving the house…

-----

Kim realized that she was still alive, almost by accident:

She was in a dream state, and the dream was both good and bad:

She and Ron were lounging on the beach, and they had both conveniently forgotten their swimsuits, so the tanning process would be complete.

"Kinda like BonBon's tan, KP: total coverage," Ron joked as he rubbed the tanning lotion on Kim's back while she purred at his touch, but she clicked on his statement and raised her head, questioningly.

"And, you would know this, how, Ronald?" She asked with a grin, and Ron giggled.

"Brain switch, remember? Cheerleader's locker room, remember?"

"RON! You never told me that before!"

"I had to tell you **something** to get your attention," he replied as his touch lightened.

Kim turned her head, and Ron was fading…

"RON!" She called out, but he only said:

"Ms. Possible? Ms. Possible?"

Ron's voice went higher in pitch as he faded even more.

"Ms. Possible? Ms. Possible?"

-----

"Ms. Possible?" Kim opened her eyes to a fuzzy view of a female voice.

"Good, you're awake. You've been beat up pretty bad, but you're all right, now."

"Ms. Possible, you have a tube in your throat, and we need to remove it," her focus came, and she saw the nurse leaning over her and smiling.

"On three, blow, all right?" came from the doctor who was now leaning over her, and Kim smiled.

'Brown eyes…yummy.'

"On three:

"One.

"Two.

"Three.

"BLOW!" she blew as hard as she could, and the doctor pulled; the tube exited smoothly.

"where?" she asked with a surprisingly (to her) scratchy voice, and the nurse placed an ice chip at her lips. Kim opened her mouth, and the chip went in.

'It even hurts to open my mouth, but, damn, that ice chip feels good; that cold water in my throat…yummy, almost as good as ..STOP IT, KIM!'

"You're in the hospital, Ms. Possible," and she rolled her eyes. Janet laughed, and Brad harrumphed.

"I'm sorry: you're in Middletown, New York," he replied testily, and her eyes softened, so he backed off.

"Don't worry, though: you'll be all right.

"You've been in surgery: we had to repair some minor internal bleeding, but it was, as you would say, 'no big,'" and Brad grinned. "Your right leg is broken, and that's been set and cast. Both of your ankles were broken, but it looked like that's nothing new to you when the surgeon examined the X-rays. Your left wrist is sprained, and that's basically it.

"Well, that, and some bumps and bruises all over: you must have gone one-on-one with a missile," he joked. Kim gave him the 'look,' and he gulped.

Janet laughed.

"You're definitely married, GF," Janet joked, and KP smiled and nodded.

"We saved your suit: what was left of it, Ms. Possible, and I found this," Janet held it up, and Kim's eyes widened. "I thought you might want it," and Janet slipped Kim's wedding ring, now on a chain that Janet had found in her desk, around Kim's neck.

"Thank you," Kim mouthed, and Janet smiled.

"Get some sleep, now, Ms. Possible," Brad slipped the oxygen mask back onto her face.

"I'm sorry, I made a mistake," and Kim's eyes, almost shut, shot back open.

"It's Mrs. Stoppable, isn't it?" he smiled and held her hand for a moment, and Kim felt the warmth as she nodded with a smile.

"I thought so: he's a very lucky man," Brad smiled and released her hand.

"I'm the lucky one," Kim mouthed through her oxygen mask as she drifted off to sleep.

-----


	5. Chapter 5: the card

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Corporation. All other characters are the creation of the author and may not be used without his permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work…at this time.

------

Zaratan's challenge: **Something Different, Something New – Contest - **This is your chance to write something completely different.

And, now, for something completely different, Zaratan.

This is not a part of the (shameless plug) _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ or the _**Partners, Again**_ stories of the JadeKimVerse, the _**Define, Hell**_ universe of stories, or a reading from the _**California King Bedtime Stories**_; it has began as another part of the new 'lovin' story, but a metamorphosis occurred: into the missing link that I had been searching for in the JadeKimVerse: the filler between the end of the _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ series and the beginning of the _**Partners, Again**_ series.

I've named it _**Birth, and Rebirth.**_

**A/N Forward: **

Kim made the decision for Ron.

Josh heard the news, and now Ron has come to him for a favor, for Kim.

-----

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

-----

Chapter 5: the card

-----

Liz woke to the smell of frying bacon and brewing coffee.

'mmm, yummy,' she thought as she slipped out of bed, into her robe, and into the kitchen.

Josh, fully dressed, was lifting the last of the bacon from the pan, and the pancakes were stacked on two plates on the counter. He placed bacon on each plate and turned at the sound of her feet.

"Good morning, beautiful," he smiled as he kissed her while holding both plates, then herded her towards the table where her coffee mug sat, steaming, the perfect color for her, and a tall glass of grapefruit juice stood guard over the mug.

She sat, and he placed her plate in front of her.

"Yours looks better: maybe I'll have that one," she joked, and he pulled his plate out of her reach quickly.

"No, dear, this one is mine: these pancakes are the first ones out, and I know you like yours hot, so that's your plate," he grinned as he sat down and began to pour syrup over the pancakes.

She cut into hers and took a bite.

"Josh, these are delicious? What did you do differently?" she reached for the bottle of maple syrup and judiciously added some to hers.

"I added a pinch of love," he replied and dodged the flying napkin.

"I just added buttermilk rather than regular milk, a few ounces of vanilla ice cream, and a dash each of cinnamon and nutmeg: nothing special."

"Well, you're just going to have to do this again for me, and soon," she smiled, and he continued to chew.

He didn't notice the taste of the pills he'd ground into powder and added into his pancake batter.

He had thought about doing it to hers, bur changed his mind.

'She's been nothing but an angel to me; she doesn't deserve to die. I'm just her loser, and I don't deserve someone as wonderful as her, let alone Kim.

'It's just better this way: she'll leave for the office, I'll lie down on the couch and watch the coverage again, and I'll be gone,' and he smiled as he looked at his wife for one of his final times.

She finished quickly and went for a shower and to get dressed.

She came out to find him sitting on the couch, with his guitar, a notepad, and a recorder.

"You go on ahead, Liz: I got this idea while I was cooking this morning, and I want to work it while it's fresh in my head," he lied, and she believed him.

"Great, Josh," she leaned over and kissed him. "Did I tell you just how wonderful you were at the memorial, my husband?"

Josh looked up. "Only about 15 or 20 times," he joked, and she smiled.

"Well, you **were**, Josh: Anne asked me for a copy of the track: she wanted to play it at the hospital for some of the patients. They asked for it, and she told them she'd see what she could do.

"You're my hero, Josh: you pulled Ron and his family and friends from their funk with your wonderful song. 'L' even said so, in his interview."

"Interview?" Josh looked up as he stopped strumming.

"Yes, his interview for NCN last night: I forgot, you were already asleep when it came on. He said it was as good as 'Rose;' he even joked with the reporter that he'd wished he'd written it so he could be as famous as you were going to be," Liz's smile both warmed and broke his heart.

"He did? Well, that must mean I'm not half bad, I guess," he muttered, and suddenly he felt his face being lifted up to stare into Liz's eyes.

"You are wonderful, my darling. You know it, I've always known it, and now the whole world knows what I know:

"I'm married to the most marvelous, talented, and gorgeous man on the planet," she kissed his lips and let his face go.

"I love you, Josh: don't stay too long, the lines are already forming for requests for your lyrics, music, and voice," and she headed out the door, closing it behind her.

Josh pulled the empty pill bottle from underneath the couch cushion and placed it on the table next to the couch, then turned on the television, placed his notepad, recorder, and guitar in the chair, and lay down on the couch.

Two minutes later:

The incessant music of the NCN's breaking news notice, and the picture flashed to a smiling commentator in the studio.

"Ladies and gentlemen:

"It seems that 'she can, indeed, do anything.'

"If you've followed her exploits, you know who I'm talking about: Kimberly Possible-Stoppable, of course..

"I'm ecstatic to take you, live, to Middletown, New York, where our reporter, Haley Goldstein, is standing by with unbelievable news: Haley, what can you tell us?"

The picture flashed to a diminutive dark-haired young woman with a smile as big as the ocean:

"Kim Possible is alive!" she exclaimed.

"Huh…wha…" came from the couch where a groggy Josh lay, and he lifted his head to look.

"I repeat: Kim Possible is alive!

"She was brought in here over 40 hours ago by a Good Samaritan who had no idea who she was, and she had no identification.

She reached up and touched her earpiece. "I just received word that the Stoppable family has already landed and they are en route to this location," and the sirens wailed in the background. "I do believe that they've arrived, courtesy of Global Justice and New York's finest as escorts," and easily a dozen motorcycles pulled into the driveway of the hospital, followed by three stretch MumVees and trailed by even more motorcycles and escort vehicles.

Josh's head dropped back to the arm of the couch as the front door slammed open.

"**JOSH**! Did you hear the news?

"She's alive, Josh!" Liz ran over to her husband and bumped the side table; the pill bottle fell off, and she grabbed it as it rolled along the floor.

She stared at it for a second, then grabbed her cell phone from her purse and punched 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 operator, please state the nature of your emergency."

"I think my husband overdosed on pills; please send help. 12845 Southern North Road, Middleton.

"Please, sir, hurry!" she wailed.

"They are en route, ma'am, and should be there within 3 minutes."

'I never thought I'd be glad to be that close to a fire station,' Josh thought as he listened.

'I'm sorry, Liz: I didn't mean to hurt you. I just couldn't take the pain anymore, my love; not with her gone, as well..

'God, if you're listening, please take care of Elizabeth, whatever that means that you do with me: alive or dead, please, just take care of her.'

"Joshua Livingston Mankey, you are _**not**_ going to die on me, you hear me?" Liz yelled into his face.

"You are _**not**_ going to die and leave me to raise our children alone!" she smiled as her tears began.

'My…children?…' was his last conscious thought, and he thought he heard the door crash open before he lapsed into unconsciousness.

-----

"Mr. Stoppable?" a brown-haired lanky young man with black-rimmed glasses and wearing a doctor's coat stopped the mob as it entered the door.

"I'm Ron Stoppable," Ron replied.

"I'm Dr. Brad Garrison; I treated your wife when she was admitted, and-"

"How is she?" Ron cut him off.

"She's fine, Mr. Stoppable. That wife of yours is resilient, but I suppose you know that better than anyone," Brad smiled.

"She had a broken leg, two broken ankles, some internal bleeding, which was taken care of with surgery, and a sprained wrist.

Brad held up the bag. "Here's her suit, Mr. Stoppable: I believe that this contributed the most to saving her life," and Wade, behind the crowd with Joss, smiled as she squeezed his hand.

"Once again, my hero delivers," Joss whispered as she kissed his cheek. "You rock, my soon-to-be husband!" and she kissed him once again.

"Can I see her?" Ron asked.

"I'm sorry; she's asleep right now, but you could stick your head into her room. Only you, right now, Mr. Stoppable; after she wakes up, more of you can go in, in small groups.

-----

Brad led Ron down the hall to the room that Ron never imagined could even exist over the past weeks:

His wife's hospital room.

The label on the door had her name written underneath a crossed-out 'Jamie Doe.'

"Go on in, it's all right," Brain opened the door, and Ron gingerly stepped into holy space.

He looked, and his eyes beheld a miracle:

He glanced up, smiled, and whispered "Thank you, Yahweh, for never losing faith in me, even though I lost faith in you."

"Ron?"

A whisper, but to Ron it was the sound-filled chorus of angels.

"K…P…?" he stammered, still not believing his eyes.

"What's wrong, 'Potential Boy:' 'Bonnie' got your tongue?" she smirked in her rough voice, but her voice was as liquid diamonds to Ron, and he ran to the bed.

"KP!" he yelled as he threw his arms out, and the two became one, once again.

Tears flowed from both sets of eyes, and love flowed, yet nothing was said that could be heard with one's ears. Emotions were intense in their silence as their eyes met for the first time, once again.

"You look like hell, and I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life, 'Princess,'" Ron whispered, and Kim knew she was alive, once again.

"Kim, I thought….

"I'm sorry," he lowered his face, and Kim raised his chin.

"No, Ron: I'm the one who should be apologizing: I pushed you because I knew what you had planned, and I didn't want our children to be fatherless," Kim smiled through tear-filled eyes.

":And, it's all right for them to have no mother?" Ron smiled, reaching his hands up and placing them on her face and shaking her head 'no.'

"If you ever do that again, KP, I'll bring you back to life and kill you, myself: you got me, 'Princess?'" Ron was laughing and crying by now.

"Yes sir, 'Potential Boy," she replied with a grin and a tear.

"That's 'Potential Man" to you, little missy," he kissed her nose, then licked it.

"Yummy: and you still taste wonderful, even in the hospital," and he backed up faster than she could swing, laughing.

"Ron, what did you think?" she asked, and he knew what she was asking, but dreaded the answer he'd have to deliver.

"KP, we were…I was sure you were gone; all of us were," her tears attacked her face.

"That missile you played tag with?" she nodded.

"Well, you ruptured the fuel lines when you hit it, and the subsequent explosions sent the warhead almost straight up in the air:

"Good thing, too," Ron smiled, "you ended up playing 'warhead bumper pool' with a pony nuke, KP: it went off in the atmosphere, and the blast wave drove your capsule further away.

Ron's voice dropped to almost a whisper. "We didn't think the capsule had survived, Kim," he smiled, but his smile was framed by his twin tear streams.

"I thought you were atoms in the jet stream, KP," and her tears re-started.

Ron was silent for a moment, and he took her hand.

"We had nothing to bury, KP, so we had a memorial service," Kim's mouth dropped open.

"It was televised, worldwide," her mouth opened even further.

"Josh sang, just like you asked, and it was beautiful: it was you, KP, it was you," and her mouth closed to a smile.

"He really loved you, Kim, and it showed in his song."

Dr. Adams ran into the room carrying a cell phone.

"Ron, you need to talk to Liz: Josh just tried to commit suicide!"

"Hello, Kimberly," CP smiled and saluted with an invisible foil. Kim smiled and returned the salute.

-----

"Elizabeth Mankey?"

Liz stood up from her chair, her face a mess and her hair disheveled.

"Yes, doctor?" 'please, let him live.'

"He'll be fine: he took the equivalent of 12 sleeping pills, but they were ground so fine that much of the medicine processed through his system with little effect. We were able to rid his system of the rest. He's sleeping now, but he'll be here, by law, under a 72-hour psychological hold.

"He's never tried to do anything like this before, correct?" and Liz shook her head.

"Has he ever been diagnosed with depression?" and Liz shook her head once again.

"Well, then, considering the stress he's likely been under, with the death of his friend Kim Possible and his performance, I'll recommend that an analyst visit him once or twice while he's here and another analyst for him to visit after he's released.

"My first guess that the analyst will find is that he has depression, but that it's never been diagnosed. I don't believe that there will be any further issues, though, if the analyst confirms what I suspect," and the doctor was surprised when she was hugged by Mrs. Mankey.

"Mrs. Mankey?" Liz released her and smiled.

"Thank you, doctor.

"When can I see him?"

"He's out, now, from the anesthetic, but he should be coming out in a few hours."

"Thank you, doctor," she released her and smiled, and then pulled out her cell phone and called Anne once again.

-----

"Momma?"

"Donna?" Kim's voice was stronger, but still not 100 per cent.

"MOMMA!" and the door slammed open as Donna and Don ran into the room, then stopped short of the bed.

"Wow, Mommy, you look like you were in a fight," Don grinned, and Ron ruffled his hair.

"Well, Don, I did have that missile that got mad at me, but it's gone now, so-"

"It's not important right, Kim?" Wade and Joss stood in the doorway, and they were framed by a beaming James Possible and a tear-streaked Anne Possible.

"Wade:

"Between the suit and that survival capsule, you rock nuclear-major: anything you want, you've got." Wade grinned as he thought...

"You pay for our wedding, Kim?" Wade joked, and Joss punched him.

"OK, Wade," and, while Ron's jaw dropped, Don and Donna took advantage of that distraction and jumped on Kim's bed, and they hugged their mother, wiping their faces on her gown as she hugged them and kissed the tops of their heads.

"No, better make that I'll pay for the wedding, you pay for Joss' dress: I'll still come out ahead," and Wade was punched even harder this time, only now it included James and Anne in addition to Joss.

Kim laughed, but then she held out her arms towards her mother.

"Momma," Kim announced quietly, "I'm home, and I'm sorry I put you through so much," Kim spoke as her tears started.

"Kimmie," Anne pushed Wade aside and went to her daughter's bedside, taking her hand and looking her in the eyes:

"It's 'no big,' Kimmie: I'm just glad you're back: I was **not** looking forward to taking another set of Tweebs to Pre-K," Anne smiled, and her tears fell on Kim's arms.

'The warmth of my mother's tears,' Kim thought. 'I began to wonder if I'd ever feel them, or see her face, again.'

"Daddy," Kim held her arms up again, "Thank you, Daddy," and James walked over and hugged his daughter.

"You're welcome, but why, Kimmie-cub?"

"For not blaming Ron," she replied, "and, for not sending him up when he came back without me," she smiled, and James hugged his daughter even harder, and he let his emotions completely out for the first time since he'd been told he'd lost his daughter.

CP looked down at Joss, and she winked at him.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?" he asked, loud enough for the room to hear.

Every face turned to the out-of-sync pair: the larger, older, and gruff CP, and the much more shapely, younger, and relaxed Joss.

Not missing a beat, Joss replied, still looking up at him:

"I think so, Brain, but where are we going to find pristine peacock plumage to pluck at this time of day, especially this far north of the city?"

The two of them were magically soaked with ice water, and the room laughed.

Ron just looked innocent as he silently placed the offending pitcher down to the floor, next to the window.

Dr. Brad Garrison opened the door after the soaking, and he stared at the laughing mob of people in the room surrounding Kim, and two people standing just inside the door, soaking wet, and surrounded by water and ice chunks on the floor.

"Dr. Adams, I presume?" Brad stuck out his hand.

"How did you know?" CP asked.

Betty heard the question just as she and Monique stuck their heads into the door, and she burst out laughing:

CP and Joss looked like cold, drowned rats.

"Winter storm, or another Drakken weather machine?" Monique quipped, and Kim motioned her over.

Monique stepped carefully though the ice-water moat that had formed around CP and Joss and went to Kim.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, GF," Monique whispered, and she and Kim hugged, in between the masses.

"Did Ron tell you yet?" Monique's wicked grin warned her, and Ron tried to step stealthily around the bed and out of the room.

"HOLD IT, RON-MAN!" came from the Kimila beast, and Ron's feet ground to a halt.

"What didn't you tell me, my husband?" Kim asked sweetly, but the sound of 16 kinds was in her voice.

"Well, Kim, we had to have a funeral," Ron began.

Kim stared.

"Well, if you have a casket with no body, well, you have to bury something," and Kim's eyes widened.

"No, not Pandaroo!" Ron added, and she relaxed. "What kind of heel do you think I am?" he grinned.

"Besides, Mommy," Don added, "Daddy's been sleeping with Pandaroo now: he says Pandaroo smells like you," and Kim's grin was unmatched, even by Ron's blush.

"I couldn't bury either your LBD," Ron smiled, "or your cheer outfits: there were **far, far** too many good memories," both Kim and Ron blushed, and James made a mental note to ask Ron later about those 'good memories.'

"I had to bury something that was truly, truly you," he finally admitted, and Kim's eyes got bigger than huge.

"_**YOU! **_

"_**DIDN'T!**_"

"Well, KP, you weren't going to need them in Heaven," he explained, but it didn't work.

Anne gasped and grinned, and Joss giggled, and Betty just laughed out loud.

James and Wade stared at each other, totally perplexed and clueless about the casket's contents.

Dr. Adams finally broke the silence.

"Ron, what **was** in the casket, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I buried your MoonNickel's 'Unlimited' card, KP, and…"

"And, what?" she feared the response.

With his goofy grin, and pulling the rear neck of his shirt, Ron finally admitted: "and, I closed the account and buried your Country Club Banana Unlimited card, too. You should have heard the operators crying in the background when I called and closed it," Ron added, but no one heard him after the word "too."

The scream could be heard down the hall into Admitting, but since it was joined by roars of laughter, no one ran to the screamer's aid.

"_**RONALD DEAN STOPPABLE!"**_

-----


	6. Chapter 6: the friends

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Corporation. All other characters are the creation of the author and may not be used without his permission.

This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work…at this time.

------

Zaratan's challenge: **Something Different, Something New – Contest - **This is your chance to write something completely different.

And, now, for something completely different, Zaratan.

This is not a part of the (shameless plug) _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ or the _**Partners, Again**_ stories of the JadeKimVerse, the _**Define, Hell**_ universe of stories, or a reading from the _**California King Bedtime Stories**_; it began as another part of the new 'lovin' story, but a metamorphosis occurred, into the missing link that I had been searching for in the JadeKimVerse: the filler between the end of the _**Blue Eyes, Shining**_ series and the beginning of the _**Partners, Again**_ series.

I've named it _**Birth, and Rebirth.**_

**A/N Forward: **

Kim made the decision for Ron.

Josh heard the news, and now Ron has come to him for a favor, for Kim.

-----

_**Birth, and Rebirth 05: Scarlet Innocence**_

-----

Chapter 6: the friends

-----

Two cell phones rang at the same time, and twin young men answered at the same time.

"Hello?" they heard each other's voices over the phone, and that confused them.

"Hey, guys, it's Wade."

"What's up, Wade?" Jim asked, and Tim nodded, miles away.

"I have one word and one word only, for you guys," Wade said, successfully managing to curb his enthusiasm.

"What's that, Wade?" Tim asked

"**TWEEBS!" **came from a very familiar voice, one that neither ever dreamed of hearing again.

"Kim?" both Jim and Tim sat, stunned.

"Hicka-bicka-boo?" she asked.

"HOO-SHA!" was the simultaneous response from all three.

Tweeb-speak was back; this time, with a vengeance.

-----

Liz walked into Josh's room on his third day of hold, and she was shocked even more by the smell:

Roses of all shades and sizes, calla lilies, sunflowers, peonies, pansies, sunflowers, gardenias, plants of all persuasions occupied his room.

"Is this Jay P. Berrymore's Floral Shoppe and Burnt Pizza Palace?"

"Over here, sweet buns," Josh replied, and she made it through the forest to his bedside.

She leaned over and kissed him.

"Sweet buns, huh?" she grinned.

"Well, truth stinks, doesn't it? I think they're awfully sweet, myself," he replied, and she kissed his lips again.

"I've already sent three roomfuls out to other patients, and the balloons are going to the children's wing," and she kissed him even more energetically.

Her bag rang, and she reached in and pulled her cell out.

"Hello?" and her grin grew.

"Yes, I am, thank you," she giggled and grinned even bigger.

Silence.

"Yes, I told him, but I doubt he remembers it."

Silence.

"No, I didn't tell him."

Silence.

"You need what?" her brow furrowed.

"All right, but he's tired, so don't take too long," and she pushed the phone in Josh' direction.

"For you, dear," she looked concerned.

Josh took the phone.

"Hello?"

"Is this the J-Man?" a soft, sultry voice asked.

"This is Josh Mankey," he looked confused.

"Who is this?"

"Your Amazon woman, J-Man," the voice exuded sensuality.

"Who?" he asked; by now, though, Josh was smiling.

Silence, then he spoke

"Hello, Kim," he finally answered, and Liz could hear the scream coming from the other end of the call.

"**JOSHUA LIVINGSTON MANKEY**! You evil, evil man!" Kim laughed, and he joined her in laughter as his tears came.

"I guess you heard that the reports of my death were just a **wee bit** exaggerated," Kim finally spoke calmly.

"I heard, Kim: I'm glad that you made it."

"I saw the song, Josh," and his heart waited for the dressing-down that he deserved.

"That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard, Josh. Thank you."

"It was true, Kim, all of it."

"I know, Josh"

Silence.

"Josh" she began, but he stopped her.

"Kim, don't: I know what you're going to say, and I don't want pity now."

"It's not pity, Josh: I have always valued your friendship, your talents, your skills. Why do you think I called you when we were ready for the Team Possible logo upgrade?"

"You felt sorry for me, I thought," he replied.

"No, I wanted the best, and I got it when I got you," Kim replied, and Josh's smile grew.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Seriously," she replied in her 'Motor Ed' voice, and they both laughed.

"Are you all right, Josh?"

"I should be asking you that question, Kim: you went 'mano-a-womano' with a nuclear-tipped missile and came back alive; I just tried to kill pain," he replied.

"Josh:

"You're still tops in my book, J-Man.

"And, by the way, I saw L's interview, too: I'm glad you sang it for me rather than him.

"I'd want to have a song like yours sung by a friend who happened to be a star, rather than a star who happened to be a friend," and Josh began closure.

"Can I get a command performance when I get back, J-Man?"

"Anything for you, Kim, and you don't even have to bring your PDP," he laughed. "Seriously, please, don't bring it," he pleaded with her, and she laughed with him.

"I'll be back in Middleton in 2-3 days, and I'll be relatively mobile by then."

"Can you come to the studio, Kim? We're cutting a track of '_**Scarlet Innocence**_' for a NCN news story, and the reporter will freak when you walk into the studio."

"Works for me," Kim replied.

"Josh? I did love you for awhile, you know, but you didn't bring a cactus," Kim smiled, and Josh laughed.

"Dang-it! Note to self: 'when wooing redheads in the future, remember to bring cactus,'" and Kim and Liz both laughed, but Liz got to kiss Joss first.

"So," Kim smirked over the phone, "are you ready?"

"For what?"

"Your new responsibilities, Daddy Josh?"

"_**Daddy**_ Josh?" he asked, and he stared at Liz in surprise. She patted her stomach, and held up two fingers.

"Twins?" he mouthed, and she shook her head, and then held up a third finger.

"Triplets?" he mouthed, and she nodded and mouthed back:

"Two months."

"I guess I am, Kim: I may need to talk to your dad about the Tweebs, though."

"I guess yours will be 'Treebs,', though," Kim replied and laughed.

"Treebs: that somehow sounds like something Ron would put on a Naco," Josh replied, straight-faced, and Liz hit his arm.

"OWW!"

"What happened, Josh?"

"Liz hit me, Kim," he whined.

"Well you deserved it for scaring a pregnant woman, J-Man."

"'No respect: I get no respect,'" he kept up the whine, but it was no use.

"I'll see you in a few days, J-Man," and Kim slipped back into that sultry voice that Josh remembered from their dates, and he smiled.

"Love you, Kim. Glad you got to hear the song on tape rather than the alternative."

"Me too, Josh; me too," she replied.

"Love you, too, J-Man, but no more attempts, all right?" Kim asked, but he knew better:

"Yes, ma'am," he sat up straighter in the bed and saluted. Liz giggled.

"Kim?" Josh felt he had to tell her, and Liz squeezed his hand.

"Yes, Josh?"

"Kim, you saved me, once again: I was ready to go, and Haley came on the television and announced that you were alive," Josh heard her huge sniffle over the phone, but he continued. "That made me lift my head for a moment to see if it was true.

"Liz heard it on the radio and came running back into the house, and she found me and the pill bottle and called 9-1-1.

"So, you see, Kim, you really **did** save me," Josh smiled, and Liz squeezed his hand as Kim continued to exude sniffles over the phone.

"Awww, Josh, 'no big;' anything for my friend," she replied, and she and Josh both laughed and cried at the same time as their shared pain began to diminish.

"Goodbye, Kim, and thank you."

"Until later, Josh," and her sultry voice, only touched a bit with a sniffle, came across the line as the connection dropped.

"Triplets?" he asked, still not believing what she'd mouthed to him.

Liz nodded, beaming.

"I found out the morning of the memorial service, and I didn't want to bother you-"

"Bother me?" Josh sat straighter in the bed.

"Bother you, dear: you were in the zone, and you were more ready than I'd ever seen you to create art, to create a memory that would last the ages."

"Yeah, and Kim had to go and **ruin** it by living," Josh pouted, and Liz's glare meant that she'd missed the joke.

"I was kidding! Jeez, is this what I'm going to have to live through for the next seven months?"

"Uh-huh," she purred as she moved closer to the bed and lay her head upon his shoulder. He was all hers, now: she now had all of his heart, even though she wouldn't mind sharing a part of it on a temporary basis when Kim came to visit.

"Kewl," and he pulled her tighter, managed to move his head enough to kiss her cheek, and they stayed like that until the nurse came in to check on him.

-----

**BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.**

"That's it! Drop the anchors, and call the crane operator to station!"

Wade watched the crew begin the process of lifting Kim's capsule from the hole it had dug for itself upon landing and placing it on a flatbed trailer for transport to the air base for flight back to Middleton and the GJ Analysis Lab.

He smiled as he remembered his first thought when he had first received the call that they had found it: he had to come and see it, in its now-natural habitat, before it was removed.

"What'cha thinkin,' Aggie?" A pair of soft hands surrounded his waist and landed sensuously on his abs and squeezed.

"I did it," he whispered softly.

"Did what, Wade?"

"Saved my 'big sis' this time, Joss," he replied, and she squeezed him tighter.

The Emergency Expand-O-Foam that he'd used, re-engineered and created from the Bond-O-Ball formula that Professor Dementor had used, had never been tested at pressures as high and speeds as fast as Kim had reached: it had never even been considered. Planes weren't supposed to fly into pony nukes and survive: it just wasn't possible

But, she **was** Kim Possible, after all, and 'she could do anything,' he thought as he smiled.

He turned his head slightly and saw her face:

The pretty young Possible woman-child he'd fallen in love with at 13 had grown and developed into a beautiful 22-year-old young woman, with her bachelor's degrees in Pre-Med, International Relations, and Japanese (courtesy of Ron and Nakasumi-san's tutelage) in record time, and was now in her second year of Medical School, living at the Nelson's über-home with Walter and Marissa Kay Nelson. Wade visited often, bringing flowers to Marissa Kay and Joss as well as any other young ladies that were there at the time: their boyfriends started off hating him, but they got onboard the wagon and began to treat their girlfriends with respect: Wade was certain that it had more to do with Joss' karate instructions to the girls at the house rather than his flowers…but Marissa Kay loved them, and Walter was already hooked on spoiling his wife.

Wade's proposal to her at her undergraduate commencement exercises had been the talk of MIST for the next six months, almost as much as Kim and Ron's wedding.

But, none of that was important to him as he watched her crinkle her nose as she smiled. Her ice-blue eyes danced behind her rimless glasses as she watched the crane (hopefully, he thought, not the crane operator!), and her lips reminded him of one more set of reasons that he was head-over-heels in love with his fiancée:

She was, using one of Ron's non-school words, a bon-diggity kisser.

"Wade," she turned and bumped his nose, earning ouches from both.

"Wade, just how did Kim get out of that foam-packed capsule? I thought that the foam was packed harder around her than that dirt you were standing on, just a few minutes ago."

"Nano-technology, Joss: I incorporated nanobots into the foam that activated when four hours had elapsed from the last hard externally-caused motion that moved the capsule," Wade explained, "They began to eat the foam away that directly touches the pilot's, in this case, Kim's, suit, starting near the face; it devoured foam like a hungry Rufus in a solid Cheddar-Cheese building," Joss laughed and leaned over, kissing Wade on the lips.

"Por qua?" Wade asked.

"Because, even after all these years, Wade, you've never talked down to me. That's just one of many reasons I love you, Aggie," she grinned.

_**BAM!**_

The couple looked up in surprise: it was the sound of the capsule, landing on the flatbed trailer to transport it to the plane. The crew was tying it down as they watched, and the foreman came over to Wade.

"Another five minutes, Dr. Load, and we'll be done."

"Backfilling the hole?"

"Crew's coming tomorrow with soil, grass seed, and trees to replace what fell."

'Good," Wade replied. "Thank you, Mr. Andrew," and Wade extended his hand.

"John, please, and it's 'no big,' Dr. Load: I was at home with my kids when the missile warning was announced: I'm just glad to be alive, and I'm even happier that Kim is, too.

"And, tell her 'thank you' for the autographed pictures and the DVD of Mr. Mankey's song." He smiled as he shook Wade's hand.

"I will, John. Thanks, again."

"You got it, Dr. Load.

"We ready to head out?" John yelled, and the horns from the vehicles all announced their confirmation.

John ran to the closest truck and jumped into the passenger side, closing the door and slipping on his seat belt as he bellowed:

"**LET'S! **

"**MOVE IT!"** and the trucks started slowly forward.

Wade had walked over to the hole and picked up a group of the larger branches and slender tree trunks that he had collected before the crane had come in and moved them next to the car, under Joss' perplexed eyes.

Now, she asked:

"What are you gonna do with those, Wade?"

"Kim's going to need a cane soon, and, knowing her, she'll have broken at least one of those walking sticks that she brought out, so I thought-" he was silenced by those lips he loved.

"All right," and she bent over to grab a bundle, and it was too tempting…

"WADE!"

"It wasn't me: it was the 'Peerless Pincher,'" he grinned, and he shoved the wood into the back seat and ran to the driver's door, barely making it in before Joss could retaliate.

'Men!' she thought, then smiled.

'Mine,' and she closed the rear doors, then opened her passenger door and stepped in.

The shy, reclusive super-genius that had stepped off of the jet in Montana and captured her heart was a wonderful young man now, having successfully earned four PhDs from MIST and a bucketful of honorary degrees from other schools when he spoke at commencement exercises there. He had grown in so many ways, Joss realized: not just in height, where her was now a solid almost-six feet tall, but in temperament, composure, and in his own quiet internal strength. His demons had all died inside of him, and he was even more attractive to other women now than he had been before: she assumed that it was his self-confidence exuding from all of his pores. She loved his visits to her are Walter and Marissa Kay's home, but she loved even more the shock of the new girls when he came through the front door; well, that and the envious looks she got when they saw him kiss her.

'And, oh, my, goodness, how that man can kiss,' she smiled at him as she strapped on her seat belt.

"Sweet Tea?"

"Yes, my Aggie?"

"How do you feel about owning property?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this property is for sale, and I thought of some things we could do for the folks up here, so-" Joss cut Wade off with a passionate kiss.

When they finally came up for air, Joss asked, "How much?"

"The list is US $18 million for the 2,300 acres, but I can make them an offer that they'll take, I'm sure: I can even get them to finance so I don't tie up cash, and…" Wade looked over at Joss, her mouth falling open.

'Ah jus' think Ah figgered out how much mah Aggie's even close to bein' worth…and that doesn't even count the value of his massive heart. Whoa, Nellie! Joss, jes' what have you gotten yourself into?' was her thought.

"…" was all she could say.

"I take it that's a 'Possible' yes, correct?" he asked as he started the vehicle and put it into gear.

She nodded, then reached over and squeezed his hand.

'What an adventure you're about to go on, Andrea Jocelyn Possible, when you become Possible-Load!'

-----

"Well?"

"It's beautiful, Ron," Kim smiled as she viewed her latest:

Next to her first supersuit, framed and hanging on the wall, was this last one, the one that saved her during her most recent sitch: it was singed and torn, and it was also now framed and hanging on the wall of her study.

"It's pretty, Mommy," Don announced, and Donna smiled in agreement.

"When did you ever find the time to have that done?

"And, don't say Wade!" Kim grinned, and Ron shook his head.

"Not this time: Josh re-framed the first one and made the frame for this one to match the original."

Kim leaned on the polished cane that Wade had given her, made from the branches that she'd landed on, and was silent for a moment.

"Are you all right, KP?"

"Fine, Ron, just fine: just wondering how many more of these there'll be," she mused.

"I don't care, as long as you're here to enjoy them with me," Ron placed his arms around her waist and squeezed.

He whispered in Kim's ear, Kim blushed, and she nodded.

"Kids, it's bed time," Ron announced.

"Aw, man," was the chorus as they headed towards the stairs.

"Why now, Daddy?" Don asked.

"It's bed time, or maybe that internal clock of yours is off, again," Ron replied, and Don looked over at the clock: 9:17.

Don and Donna trudged up the stairs, grousing the entire way to their rooms.

"As for you," Ron leaned over and kissed Kim, "I think it's high time we started working on Ron, Jr," he scooped her up in his arms as she squealed, and she turned out the lights and pulled the door shut as they left her study and headed up the stairs to, first, put the kids to bed, and, second, to head back down and into the master suite, closing te door so that they could put their bed to good use.

"KP, I'm sorry I buried your cards, but I couldn't think of anything else: everything else hurt too much to give away or see disappear, permanently.

"I did have your accounts re-activated as soon as I left your hospital room that day, and Mr. Banana himself had your unique card re-created; that's why I cancelled your request a week ago for exhumation of your cards," Ron's laugh was joined by Kim's.

"But, I still felt bad that I might have hurt you, even a bit, so I found something that I thought might, even a little bit, help make it up to you."

"Ron, you don't have to do anything for me."

"I don't have to: I wanted to, because you are my life, Kim: I always want to see that smile, forever.

"And, besides, just like you, my forever love:

"I'm **full** of surprises," and the sounds of paper rattling accompanied Ron's chuckle and Kim's gasp as he handed her a large box.

"Welcome home, KP," he said, and the sound of paper ripping…

"You got me a box?" Kim sounded puzzled.

The sound of the box being opened was replaced by the sound of another box as she pulled the second from inside the first, and then-

"**RON!**

"Where did you **find** this?"

"JCove, if you know where to look, and are willing to negotiate, KP."

"But, it's **perfect**!

"I've never seen a KangaCat before, up close, let alone held one," and the tears came first from Kim, and then from Ron when he saw his wife begin to cry.

"KP, what's wrong?"

"I never…

"I love you so much, Ron," and the sound of paper being crumpled and moved.

"KP?"

She hit the remote, and the room changed quickly to almost-total darkness

"I believe you said something earlier," Kim's sultry voice could be heard, "about working on Ron Jr.," and the sounds of clothes being removed.

"I'm ready for my 'Welcome Home,' Ronnie," she giggled.

"Here, let me help you with that," she purred.

"KangaKitty and Pandaroo will have to share the love seat tonight," Kim said after a few minutes, "because I'm not sharing my RonShine with anyone else," and the click of the final lights turning off could be heard.

"Oh, my," was all that came from Ron as he gave in to the inevitable….

-----

The suits hung on the wall in darkness, as Kim had done many times in the past.

But, there was always the dawn, and a new day would come for the Stoppable family.

A noise, and two tiny pairs of eyes opened in the darkness and looked up, listening.

One pair of eyes looked at the other, and her eyes danced in a smile.

The other pair of eyes looked back and smiled to her, tickling her with his whiskers.

Both looked up again, yawned, and went back to sleep, holding each other and dreaming of Gouda fountains and Cheddar merry-go-rounds.

-----

Haley Goldstein had thought she had struck the mother lode with the on-site coverage of the discovery of Kim Possible in the hospital.

This was even better, and she'd never imagined that it could be so:

She had an exclusive interview with him, and in his studio. She was sitting across from the hottest-of-the-hot hotties himself, Josh Mankey. He had his guitar and had played love songs to her while the cameras were being set up.

Haley was in lust and love; 'well, mostly lust,' Haley grinned as she contemplated Josh playing...STOP IT, HALEY!

This was better than the pianist that she'd worked with, back when she was younger, on Public Radio. That guy was waaay cute, she remembered, but he was no Josh Mankey, and he was waaay older than her at the time.

Josh had answered all of her questions, even the ones about his attempted suicide.

The only thing he hadn't explained, and refused to explain, was his requirement for four chairs at the interview; he sat in the second chair from the left, with empty chairs around him.

Now, his wife was coming into the room, joining him, and he stood when he heard her open the door.

"Mrs. Mankey, good afternoon.

"Liz, please, Haley," and they both sat, Liz in the chair to Josh's left, leaving two chairs vacant to his right.

"Liz. I understand that congratulations are in order."

Liz beamed. "That's right, Haley: we're having triplets! Well, I'm having the triplets, Josh is being insufferably male about the entire event," and Josh grinned and Haley nodded.

"You both went to school with Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, didn't you?"

"Yes," Liz replied. "Kim and I were both on the cheer squad: I was 'the other redhead,'" Liz added, and she laughed along with Josh.

"I guess anyone around her would be in a huge shadow," Haley observed, but Josh shook his head.

"Not necessarily, Haley," Josh interjected. "She was, and is, the best friend you can have, and she'll step back and let you shine: she did that for me lots of times in high school while we dated, and she did it even more for Ron, before he became her husband.

"She doesn't want the limelight, for limelight's stake," Josh added and smiled. Liz nodded her agreement.

"So, I understand we get a special treat, Josh."

"That's right, Haley: actually, you get **two** treats," he grinned, and Liz giggled.

Haley looked perplexed.

"We're going to cut the first studio recording of '_**Scarlet Innocence**_,' Haley, and you'll be here in the auxiliary control room to listen. We've set up a special audio feed for your viewers and listeners, so you're getting all of the good and bad sounds, as they occur," Josh laughed.

Haley was mentally drooling at the opportunity.

Her curiosity got the better of her, however, and she had to ask, especially after Josh had tossed that two-bomb statement out without continuing: he just sat, silently, teasing her with the silence.

"That's wonderful, Josh, and, thank you from my viewers and listeners as well as NCN.

"I have to ask, though:

"What's the second surprise?"

"I'm afraid that's me, Haley," and one camera remained on Haley and the other turned to the voice.

The in-studio producer had perfect timing: he'd split the screen, so the world saw Haley's jaw drop as Kim Possible, using a beautifully-polished natural-wood cane, stepped into the interview room, followed by her husband, Ronald Stoppable.

Josh got up, walked quickly to Kim and hugged her, while Ron walked over to Liz and hugged her.

Josh then found Ron and gave him a manly hug, and Liz and Kim hugged, Kim whispering something to Liz that the microphones didn't pick up. Liz laughed and hugged Kim once again.

"Kim Possible: thank you for being here," Haley finally regained her voice after the producer screamed twice in her ear as all four sat: Liz and Josh retook their seats, Kim next to Josh and Ron at the end.

"Trust me, Haley, I'm very happy to be here. I've been a big fan of yours since you were on '_**Come, Play for Us**_' on NPR," and Haley's smile almost outshone the spots.

"Thank you, Kim," and the producer laughed as he caught Haley's visible blush on camera.

"Trust me, this is way better than sharing air space with a missile," Kim laughed.

"Kim, how did you feel when you heard '_**Scarlet Innocence**_' for the first time when you watched the video of your memorial service?"

"Haley, that was the first performance of **this** version of '_**Scarlet Innocence**_,'" Kim corrected her as she looked at Josh. "He sang the original to me years ago on a date; it was wonderful then, and I loved this version, too."

"You and Josh dated? Before Ron?" Haley leaned forward.

"That was before Ron found the cactus, Haley," Josh explained, and the four laughed while the group at the network scrambled to find the empty cactus footage.

"Josh was my friend, back in high school, but we weren't meant for each other," Kim smiled as she squeezed Ron's hand. "He was so much of a friend that he was the first person to tell me that I belonged with Ron, even before the cactus," Kim leaned over and kissed the beaming Ron.

"Josh is still a very dear friend, Haley, and I wouldn't be a true friend to him if I didn't let him go on with the plans for this interview.

"Josh, I believe you owe Haley a song?" Kim smirked, and Josh nodded.

He stood, leaned over and kissed his wife deeply, then kissed Kim on the cheek and whispered 'thank you, my friend,' slapped hands with Ron, and headed into the main recording studio.

He sat on the stool with his guitar, Melody Davidson stood at the conga drum/bongo spread, and Mark Cotterman stood at his bank of keyboards, the conductor and small orchestra behind them all and at the ready.

"**_Scarlet Innocence_**, Studio Edition, Take One," and the producer pointed at Josh.

"This is for the redheads in my life," Josh started, and the producer freaked as Josh went off-script. "My wife Elizabeth Mankey, who is pregnant with our triplets, and my friend Kim Possible, who opened up new 'Possibilities' for me.

"To you two ladies, this is your song, but especially to Kim, who **_is_** 'Scarlet Innocence' personified," and the studio producer was glad that he had that extra camera there as it watched Kim's face blush and fill with pride for her friend.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you: '_**Scarlet Innocence**_,'" and Josh began the song, and he also began, at the same time, a new chapter in his own life.

-----

story now complete

-----

**Author's afterward:**

-----

When my reviewers quote my lines in the reviews, I know I've hit the mark. When other writers ask to 'borrow' my characters for their stories and keep me in the loop for continuity and 'keeping the characters in line,' I know I've grown as a writer, at least a little bit from almost 12 months ago when I posted my first story here. When they ask my opinions on writing, on story ideas, and on stories before publishing, my ego gets stroked even more. Thank you.

Thank you to Akinyi, JAKT, Pharaoh Rutin Tutin, Sir Sebastian, Slyrr, and star-eva01 for providing invaluable beta assistance and comments to keep me straight, and research assistance. To me, the individuals above are truly representative of the broad appeal of KP FanFiction: from 11 to over 50, male and female, elementary school to (literally) rocket scientist (well, not precisely, but close).

My thanks to JAKT for allowing the appearance of Dr. C. P. Adams in my story, complete with sweet mint tea, and for assisting in the general property search in New York State while I searched for a place for Kim's capsule to set down: I was only about 20-25 miles north of the perfect landing spot, it turns out. Yes, the property does exist, and it is close to the actual Middletown, New York. And, yes, it's really for sale.

Never unnerve an 11-year-old, or you could appear in FanFiction! KT, thank you ever so much…seriously. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time as when I first read Dr. Adams' description in your story. So, now, he has to escape occasionally from you and JA into the JadeKimVerse to work and get re-supplied with fresh mint plants.

The movies, television shows, and songs referenced are all copyrighted by the writers, producers, networks, and/or their creators. The historical reference to President Kennedy's funeral processing comes from photos and from watching it on the black-and-white while it occurred. Things like that stay with you.

And, Zaratan, thanks for hosting the contest and charging my brain cells to find this link I've been searching for.

For those of you who read and don't review, thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your stay, shed a few tears, and got some laughs in the end.

Thank you all for reading, and please review if you haven't done so, yet.

------

On a serious note: if you feel depressed or ever feel that there's no way out, talk to someone who cares and loves you. If you feel that you have no one to talk to, you **DO** have options:

Go to your phone book and look up suicide prevention hotlines, or call directory assistance: they can provide you with the local or national toll-free numbers and connect you, as well.

Use the Internet and search for "suicide prevention" (with quotes); you'll find several options there, as well.

Your life _**IS**_ worth living.

You are worth saving.

Stay with us.

Please, stay.

Please.

------


End file.
